The present invention relates to pinball machines and, in particular, to pinball machines of the type which include a lower cabinet containing the playfield board and an upper cabinet containing various scoring displays and other displays. The invention has particular application to pinball machines which permit movement of the upper cabinet to facilitate storage and transport of the machine.
In many pinball machines a lower playfield cabinet has mounted thereon an upstanding display cabinet which projects vertically upwardly from the lower cabinet. This arrangement is inconvenient for storage and transportation of the pinball machine, because it occupies a considerable amount of space. Furthermore, the upper cabinet is exposed and vulnerable to damage or to being broken or dislodged from the lower cabinet when the machine is upended or otherwise tilted, as may be necessary during transportation.
To alleviate this problem, the upper cabinet may be made detachable from the lower cabinet. But detachable upper cabinets are inconvenient, since it requires considerable time and expense to disassemble and reasemble the two cabinets, including the several electrical interconnections therebetween.
In order to alleviate this problem, it is known to provide a pinball machine with a foldable upper cabinet which can be pivotally moved between an upright use position and a folded down position pivoted forwardly over the lower cabinet. But prior pinball machines with fold-down upper cabinets have simply used external piano-type highes on the bottom of the upper cabinet. This arrangement has provided to be disadvantageous. The upper cabinet has a considerable front-to-back thickness. Generally, the hinges are placed at the forward edge of the upper cabinet and at the rear end of the lower cabinet so that, when the upper cabinet is in its upright position it will overlie as little as possible of the lower cabinet, thereby permitting the maximum space available for the playfield board without any portion of the playfield board being obscured by the upper cabinet. But this necessitates that the upper cabinet will extend rearwardly well beyond the rear end of the lower cabinet, causing the entire pinball machine to take up additional floor space when in use. If the hinges are placed so that, when upright, the upper cabinet is arranged with its rear wall substantially in alignment with the rear wall of the lower cabinet, then the entire thickness of the upper cabinet will overlie the lower cabinet, occupying valuable cabinet space and necessitating that the playfield board be made smaller so that the rear end of it is not obscured by the upper cabinet.
A further disadvantage of the external piano-type hinges used in the prior pinball machines is that the hinges are visible when the upper cabinet is in its use position.
Another disadvantage of the prior arrangement is that piano-type hinges typically lack the strength to support the upper cabinet so that, in its folded position, it must rest upon and be supported by the lower cabinet.